Wrestlemania 23

Went to see Wrestlemania. It was just by myself b/c I forgot to get anything together w/ my friends. It was annoyingly expensive to see it @ the theatre. The PPV @ home would be $50, and the ticket was $25. And since I spent $10 on food (to smuggle in), that's really $35. Anyways, someone behind me had feet that smelt like stinky cheese. And when I went in an hour before it started, the idiots didn't even turn on the theatre lights or play the pre-PPV show, so it was kinda hard to see where people were sitting. Still ended up having some stupid Cena fans sitting next to me b/c they were late. At least I brought my DS lite to play. Played Animal Crossing while I waited for the PPV to start. Yeah, got that recently. Haven't been able to try the WiFi yet. The people in my building have secured their network, and I was too far away from the theatre one. It's not bad, similar to Harvest Moon, although you really don't have any objective. So far I've paid off my mortgage, harvested all the oranges in town, and won several fishing contests.

Anyways, on to the matches. Apparently there was a lumberjack dark match w/ Flair and Carlito. Gawd, they've so decimated the tag team division. There wasn't a single tag team belt on the line. Of course w/ HBK and Cena holding the RAW one (and never defending it), the divisions become a joke. I thought w/ them putting Hardys, MNM and World's Greatest Tag Team back together, they'd be reviving it. But nope, they let Joey Mercury go for some reason, so that's pretty much it. Hardly seen Benjamin or Haas even though they're extremely talented, although Haas is lacking in charisma.

First match was surprisingly the Money in the Bank. It was quite astounding. Everyone pretty much held their own. They had some awesome storytelling w/ the Hardys at the top of the ladder fighting, Booker having to give up his chance to save Sharmell, Hornswoggle trying to climb the ladder and going against Kennedy and Findley comforting Hornswoggle. Of course, the spots were excellent too, but I don't think we'll be seeing Jeff or Edge back anytime soon. I was hoping Jeff wouldn't do it b/c that was crazy dangerous, and I'm not sure if the ladder was supposed to break in half. This was a match were I wasn't sure who was going to get it, although Kennedy isn't a bad choice. They're definitely pushing him, and he has a lot of talent, mike skills, and draws good heat. Sharmell's outfit, once she let the cape down, wasn't bad.

Kane vs. Khali wasn't bad. Kane carried Khali for a lot of the match but they still worked it pretty good, and I'm not sure what they're going to do w/ Khali winning. Are they planning to have him go up against Umaga? And what'd be the point when they're both heels and seemingly unstoppable?

Benoit vs. MVP was pretty good. If MVP was better, Benoit wouldn't have to carry him so much and Benoit'd be able to let loose. Although I noticed that they didn't mention Angle's name when they were listing the technical wrestlers Benoit's gone up against. It was still pretty fun, and some good storytelling w/ the blocks and switches.

Undertaker vs. Batista was an awesome match. Excellent storytelling w/ both of them getting near-falls, intense, good pace. I have newfound respect for Batista. Before he was just there, now he's pretty cool. I couldn't figure who'd win, so that was really good and kept me on the edge.

ECW Originals vs. New Breed was...disappointing. Mostly b/c all the guys in the ring are really talented (although I hold my judgement on Sandman), and it was really short. There wasn't really anyone doing their spots except for RVD. It was really short too, which is pretty bad that 8 guys in the ring can't hold a longer or more intense match.

McMahon vs. Trump. Was there really any doubt on who'd get his head shaved? Trump who has to look "purty" (what the hell is that on his head anyways?) for the TV crap he has, or McMahon who will have "shit" dumped on him to sell a story? Loved his "babytalk" to his granddaughter. And seeing Shane O' Mac come out and do the coast-to-coast dropkick was the best. I love Shane-O. I think Lashley's had experience shaving heads b/c he put his other hand in the right spot to protect McMachon's ears and forehead. I was surprised to see Austin stunner Trump. That was awesome. I think both Umaga and Lashley were really out for the 10-count. The match itself was only ok. I think Lashley needs to demonstrate more of his technical skills.

Melina vs. Ashley. Sucked. Melina was carrying Ashley the entire time, and Ashley could barely do any moves or know how to react. Melina couldn't pull off a lot of her moves b/c Ashley would mess them up. Glad it was short. Actually I wonder if they cut it short b/c it was so bad.

HBK vs. Cena. Considering the opening that they had for HBK wasn't that astounding, and that HBK took Cena to school for the first half of the match, it's pretty obvious who'd lose. There's no way they'd let HBK humiliate Cena unless Cena's in the doghouse. And Cena cannot tell a story worth sh!t. Wasn't your knee killing you after HBk worked on it? You seemed to be rolling around a lot. And then suddenly it's working again and you're not even limping! What a frigging moron. All of HBK's work gone to waste. And of course it's the stupid STFU. 1/3 of Cena's moves right there. I sorta seemed that since HBK was going to lose, they let him go to town on Cena. The spike piledriver was toooo sweet. Something for us poor ripped off fans to savour. You think HBK had enough crosses on his outfit?

On the whole, the people I wanted to win won, except for HBK and Kane. I was pretty neutral on the Money in the Bank, just wanted an awesome match. And at least it was actually close to 4 hrs. Although much of it was filled w/ recaps of events leading to match, ads, etc. I think it was Keith David that did the voice at the beginning. It really did sound like him.

They showed an edited 1 hr version of the Hall of Fame induction on TSN on Saturday. I wanted to see William Shatner's intro for Lawler, b/c that is a bit odd choice. The vibe btwn Dustin Runnels and Cody Rhodes was kinda wierd. It seemed Cody didn't want to be near Dustin from his body language, but gave him and Dusty a lot of verbal praise. I wonder what Cody does? His speech was pretty good and he had a clear emotive voice. I wonder what happened to Mr. Fuji and why he's in a wheelchair? Of course, he's 71 so I guess all the injuries might've taken their toll. I liked Lawler's speech. Can't believe he said that crack about one of the billionaire's will have to cut a whole in his pants to run his fingers thru his hair.